Creating environments where colleagues feel safe to raise concerns, share ideas and challenge poor practice is essential to delivering safe, effective and inclusive healthcare.
Across the ambulance sector, the Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) National Ambulance Network (NAN), supported by AACE and NHS England, is helping to drive this agenda forward by bringing together FTSU Guardians and leaders from across UK ambulance services.
The network provides a valuable forum for collaboration, shared learning and mutual support, enabling members to exchange best practice, discuss emerging challenges and strengthen approaches to colleague voice across their organisations. Through this collective effort, the network plays an important role in supporting cultures where people feel listened to, valued and empowered to speak up.
This strong partnership was further demonstrated last month when the FTSU National Ambulance Network provided a sector board report to the AACE Council. The report offered an overview of key themes, emerging insights and areas of focus from across ambulance services, reinforcing the sector’s collective commitment to reducing unwarranted variation, sharing learning and driving continuous improvement. It reflects the value placed on colleague voice at a national level and the importance of collaboration between trusts in strengthening speaking up cultures across the ambulance sector.
Following the publication of the Dash Review in 2025, the importance of FTSU has remained firmly in focus across the NHS and ambulance sector. The network continues to support services in embedding the principles of speaking up, listening well and following up effectively, recognising the vital contribution these make to organisational culture, staff experience, patient safety and continuous improvement.
Anna Parry, Managing Director of AACE, said:
Creating a culture where colleagues feel confident to speak up, and know they will be listened to, is fundamental to safe, inclusive and high-performing ambulance services.
The National Ambulance Network plays a vital role in helping trusts strengthen that culture across the sector.
The strength of the network lies in its ability to connect colleagues with a shared purpose. FTSU Guardians from across the UK work together to share learning, identify opportunities for improvement and promote consistent approaches that help create psychologically safe workplaces.
The network’s work was showcased at the Ambulance Leadership Forum in March, where representatives engaged with colleagues from across the sector to highlight the importance of speaking up and the positive impact it can have for individuals, teams and organisations. These conversations reinforced a simple but powerful message: when people feel safe to speak, leaders listen and organisations act, better outcomes follow for staff, patients and services alike.
As the network continues to evolve, its focus remains clear: supporting ambulance services to strengthen colleague voice, foster openness and ensure that speaking up is recognised as a fundamental part of delivering compassionate, safe and high-quality care.
For more information, contact FTSU NAN co-chairs lauren.dunn@swast.nhs.uk or kim.blakeburn@secamb.nhs.uk.
